(CNN) - House Speaker John Boehner said Tuesday the tea party and conservative Republicans are basically one in the same.

As establishment Republican candidates try to fend off a series of tea party challengers in Tuesday's midterm primaries, Boehner sought to quell the apparent divide between the two factions in his caucus.

(CNN) - Former President Bill Clinton suggested the Republican Party has become more extreme, saying Richard Nixon would be considered "a flat-out communist" compared to the people running his party today.

Kicking off a speech to a progressive think tank, Clinton said that to be successful in a life of public service, "you have to be obsessively interested in people and you need to be interested in them as individuals and not just as some collective body."

Memphis, Tennessee (CNN) – The Republican National Committee overwhelmingly approved a measure Friday that will punish candidates seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination if they participate in debates that are not sanctioned by the national party.

The penalty is meant to give the RNC more control over the presidential nominating process after party leaders watched a nasty, drawn-out primary in 2012 that included 20 major debates. Only seven RNC members opposed the new “rule,” while 152 supported it. The RNC also created a new committee that will oversee the GOP primary debate process including the timing, location and media partners for the debates.

(CNN) - Rick Santorum said Monday he doubts a Libertarian-leaning candidate, like Rand Paul, could be nominated to lead the Republican Party in a presidential election.

Asked by co-host Van Jones on CNN's "Crossfire" if he could support the Kentucky senator if he winds up running and is nominated in 2016, Santorum said he doesn't think he’ll have to consider that ultimately.

Grimm, a two-term Republican representing New York's 11th Congressional District, is the only GOP congressman from New York City and even before he was indicted Monday on 20 counts of fraud, he was facing a tough campaign to win a third term.

(CNN) - Mitt Romney is weighing in on competitive Republican primary for a GOP held House seat in California - the latest sign that the 2012 Republican presidential nominee plans to play an influential role in helping to shape the future of his party.

CNN has learned that Wednesday Romney will endorse Tony Strickland for Congress in California's 25th district, to succeed longtime GOP Rep. Buck McKeon. The House Armed Services committee chairman announced in January that he wouldn't run for re-election this November.

(CNN) – Over 50 years after Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, the issue of race is back in the political headlines, after comments from Attorney General Eric Holder and events marking the anniversary of the law’s passage renewed the dialogue over race relations in the 21st century.

Rep. Steve Israel, D-New York, said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that "not all" of his GOP colleagues are racist but "the Republican base does have elements that are animated by racism."

Washington (CNN) – Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will headline the South Carolina Republican Party’s Silver Elephant Dinner, a major GOP fundraising event in the early primary state that doubles as a must-do stopover for ambitious politicians with an eye on the White House.

Jindal will address the banquet, the finale of the state GOP’s annual convention in Columbia, on June 6.

The former Florida governor said in an interview Sunday in College Station, Texas, that people who come to the United States illegally are often looking for opportunities to provide for their families that are not available in their home countries.

"Yes, they broke the law, but it's not a felony. It's an act of love, it's an act of commitment to your family," Bush told Fox News host Shannon Bream at town hall event at the George Bush Presidential Library Center.